| | so currently i am in singapore for a long weekend. this is my second time here, the last time being a business trip with my manager sunny.
this place is clean like everyone says, for the most part. much cleaner than malaysia. that is for sure. the city is very much cosmopolitan. i like to think of it as hong kong, except mandarin speaking. it is so much easier for me to communicate and get around over here. cabs are readily available and the mrt is built to go around the city, much like hong kong. it is very convenient to get around.
i wonder what it would have been like to stay here long term. unfortunately, i will not get a chance to. sometimes i wonder if the big city if for me. just like my fascination with hk, i get the same feeling with this place. i wonder if it's a nice setting to live in, or just a fun place to play in. And again, regrettably, I will not get the chance to find out. It seem like my trip here has been so short.
however, i do feel ready to return home. as much as i like it here and have adjusted to the environment, the bottom line is that i am different, and i am not a local. home for me will always the states for me. although i have assimilated to the culture, customs and settings around me, it is not home for me. i still feel very much an outsider, in my language, to my expectations and standards of things, to my actions and habits. it is not easy to change overnight, and though i have lived here for about 5 months now, i still think differently and act differently from everyone.
i don't know if it is because of the fact that i am american or whatever, but there is definitely some certain aspects of me that others scoff at. there is definitely a lot of anti-american sentiment here in asia, and the people are very quick to turn on you if you express or exhibit any of the characteristics that they do not appreciate. so in many ways, i cannot be myself here, which i find quite hard. i sometimes get the feeling that i cannot bring my culture over here, but as i see it, it doesn't work the other way around. all the foreigners that i have met back in the states have always been able to express and exercise their culture. i think that's what really sets america back from the rest. that we can accept so many things (which does work against us sometimes), but at least in this light it is good.
but i find it very funny how american these countries try to be, and yet scoff at the ideals and the people of the country. i mean really, you cannot have one without the other. they all want to live like we do, but then ridicule all the people who have gotten us to where we are, giving us no credit whatsoever. it does seem backward, but what can we do.
how did i go from singapore to all this this? anyhow, once again, i wish i could have stayed here longer, but i am ready to go home now. hope to see all my friends and family soon. |
| | Posted 6/25/2007 9:14 AM - 60 Views - 4 eProps - 1 Comment
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